What do you think of the proposed format?
How would you do this differently, and why?
From personal experience, it is really hard to stick together above Trail Camp, particularly in the 97 switchbacks. There really are a lot of things to consider.
So, what additional requirements are you imposing on the support teams other than to be around in case of emergency? What happens if a support team lags behind? What if a support team has an emergency? What additional requirements are you imposing on the summit team? Those are some questions to ask.
What would I change? I would consider something like a layered "buddy system." I found it easier to manage groups of two where each pair is responsible for monitoring one another. Would that inspire a gaming mentality among your hikers? I do not know. (If you watched the episode of "Biggest Loser" last night there were all sorts of strategies exposed and some of them backfired).
